("The Datsun pickup of '59 was a lightweight hauler that had one
speed - slow," says Bob Hagin. Matt Hagin says the new supercharged
Nissan Frontier isn't his father's Datsun.)

MATT - Until it can get a V8-powered pickup on line to challenge its
muscular competition, Nissan has to rely on its tried and true 3.3-liter
V6 to be the standard-bearer for the line. In the world of
cost-effective automotive engine manufacturing, there's very few
substitutes for cubic inches of displacement. One of those is
supercharging. By cramming extra air and fuel into the cylinders of its
relatively small single-cam V6 engine under seven pounds of pressure,
Nissan engineers boosted its power up from 170 horses and 200 pound/feet
of torque to 210 and 264 respectively. The supercharger is a belt-
driven, positive-displacement Roots-type, which means that its boost
works immediately, without the lag-time that's common with
turbochargers, which require exhaust gas flow to get them pumping. The
torque value is raised even more dramatically, which explains its
5000-pound towing capacity. All the new Frontier body configurations can
be had with this supercharged V6 and they're designated as SC models.

BOB - This Crew Cab version is a new breed of pickup that in essence
lops off the back of a four-door sport/utility vehicle and grafts on a
relatively small steel bed for carting gardening supplies and groceries.
It can also carry another couple of passengers in back of the front
seats. And having their own doors, they don't have to crawl over
pulled-forward front buckets to climb aboard. Rear leg room is gained at
the sacrifice of 20 inches of bed length from the standard Frontier
pickup. The Frontier Crew Cab was built as a family-hauler with
occasional duty as lightweight pickup, not as a utilitarian commercial
vehicle.

MATT - But for those occasions when something long like 4-by-8 fence
posts, our unit had the optional bed extender but at $309 extra, a guy
would have to haul a lot of lumber. The Frontier line of trucks is
pretty much the same vehicle that first appeared in 2000, but the
company has spruced up the sheet metal to have a more rugged "he-man"
image. Nissan has targeted drivers 25 to 34 years old and expects
80-percent of them to be male, with 60-percent of those being single and
60-percent to be college grads. They're expected to have an average
household income of $52,000 per year. I guess Nissan hasn't targeted old
guys like you, right?

BOB - Obviously not, Matt. Nissan promotion calls the new body work
"industrial-strength" and alludes to it as a Big-Rig look, which is not
my style. The 4-by-4 versions like our SC have true off-road capacities
since they have a button-operated front wheel drive engagement and a
transfer case for low-speed, high-torque rock crawling. All supercharged
Frontiers use limited slip differentials in back to help avoid wheel
spin and if the rocks are bigger than expected, our Crew Cab was
equipped with standard skid plates under the engine and fuel tank. It
also had a tubular roof rack, which barely clears the pop-up moonroof.
The ride is very car-like in spite of the fact that the suspension is
conventional "truck" with A-Arms and coil springs up front and a solid
axle in back hung on leaf springs. Although it has anti-lock brakes all
around, the brakes in back are vintage drum units.

MATT - The wheels and tires are pretty fancy and not designed for
much of that rock-crawling. They're P265/55Rs on 17-inch alloy wheels
which seem better suit to boulevard cruising or straightening out fast
mountain curves. There are 14 different Frontiers models that range from
the plebeian regular cab with a regular bed and a 2.4-liter four-
cylinder engine, to the hot-rod supercharged version like our test
truck. The four-banger only puts out 145 ponies, but it's good enough
for a family guy who needs a fuel efficient commuter "car" that can be
useful around the house on the weekend.

BOB - That too would leave me out, Matt, since I've never been
considered very useful around the house.